i) Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a print system that can inhibit deformation of printing paper resulting from drying of ink on the paper, and a print method for the print system.
ii) Description of the Related Art
At the present day, a printer is widely known which ejects ink onto a surface of a printing paper while the paper is being transferred from a feed position to a discharge position for printing (so-called ink jet printer).
In this type of printer, the printing paper is often curled up gently if there is much ink; that is, much moisture, ejected onto the surface of the printing paper. In this case, the printing paper may not be inserted between a pair of discharge rollers properly, causing a paper jam inside the printer.
For this reason various techniques to prevent such curling of the printing paper have been proposed these days. For instance, the Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9-62397 discloses a technique of slowing down the transfer speed of the printing paper when a paper jam is detected in a state that the amount of ink ejected by a print head has become more than a predetermined amount. This technique allows moisture on the printing paper to be reduced when there is too much ink ejected on the surface of the printing paper. By slowing down the transfer speed of the printing paper, more time is secured for drying the ink on the printing paper and thus the curling of the printing paper can be inhibited.
However, the aforementioned technique merely slows down the transfer speed of the printing paper. The shape of the printing paper cannot be maintained during the time the ink on the paper is being dried. Consequently, the printing paper is sometimes deformed partially while the ink is being dried.
If such deformation occurs immediately after the printing onto the printing paper is started, that is, on the front portion of the printing paper, there is a fear that a portion of the printing paper may come close to or come into contact with the print head and the printing quality may be deteriorated. Furthermore, if large deformation occurs in the printing paper with a high water absorption rate, the printing paper may be torn by the scan of the print head or may cause a paper jam for the reason that the printing paper is not inserted between the discharge rollers properly.